Great strides thanks to economic integration

These milestones have contributed to advancing economic development and helped the country to make significant progress in reforming institutions and improving transparency and competitiveness.

Before 1995, Vietnam was known as a tiny but unyielding country during resistance wars, not a country with economic potential.

However, the introduction of the Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement in July 2000 was considered as a manifesto to the world that Vietnam not only normalized its relations with the US but also officially opened its economy to the number one power.

For the first time, Vietnam was familiar with such concepts like opening market, investment commitments, national treatment, and non-discrimination rules.

Things changed remarkably after the agreement took effect in 2001. Vietnam’s export revenue reached US$36.3 billion in 2014 compared to just US$1.51 billion in 2001.

Six years after signing the Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement, Vietnam became the 150th member of the World Trade Organization.

The event created strong effect in luring foreign investment with the total registered volume soaring from US$10 billion in 2006 to US$21.3 billion in 2007 and US$64 in 2008.

Vietnam’s exports rose 20%/year on average while distribution and retail sale services developed vigorously, evidenced by the appearance of modern supermarkets and trade centers.

The Tran-Pacific Partnership is another milestone as it touches upon new areas like Government procurement, labor, and environment among others.

It is estimated that the agreement would help expand the national GDP by US$23.5 billion by 2020 and US$33.5 billion by 2025. Export value is forecast to increase by US$68 billion by 2025.

Institutional improvements

There is no doubt that significant advances have been made in reforming institutions, improving competitiveness and business environment over the past years.

A series of important laws like the Law on Enterprises, the Law on Credit Organizations, the Law on Intellectual Property Rights, and especially the Law on Commerce have been revised to further define the right to business freedom.

Under the World Trade Organization rules, all laws and administrative decisions must be made public before the date of effect. Statistics show that Vietnam has amended or issued 86 laws since the country joined the World Trade Organization.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a new-generation agreement with higher standards on transparency, anti-corruption, facilitation of corporate performance, which requires huge efforts in order to successfully grasp opportunities generated from the course of international integration.